NEW YORK — Former Trudeau-era deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was in New York Friday at an event where she was presented with a “Heroes of Democracy" award alongside former U.S national security adviser John Bolton. The awards were presented by the Renew Democracy Initiative. Freeland acknowledged the award in a post on X, “Grateful to be in New York Friday night and honoured to receive the Heroes of Democracy Award,” she wrote. “Standing firm for Ukraine and for liberal democracy everywhere has never mattered more.”Freeland’s recognition came due to her role in “supporting Ukraine and promoting democratic institutions” comes after her time in the Canadian government, where she served most recently as deputy Prime Minister under Justin Trudeau. During her mandate, Freeland played a key role in implementing measures authorized under the unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act in 2022 in order to stifle the Freedom Convoy protests by freezing bank accounts linked to participants and donors. Those measures were later scrutinized in court. In January 2026, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act was unreasonable and unconstitutional, finding it failed to meet the legal threshold required to declare a national emergency.The court determined there were no reasonable grounds to conclude a national emergency existed.It also concluded that existing laws were sufficient to address the situation without invoking emergency powers.The court also ruled that regulations were overly broad in restricting participation in protests and that the financial orders allowing banks to freeze accounts without a warrant constituted an unreasonable search and seizure.Freeland oversaw the financial components of the emergency response, including coordination with banks and other institutions to implement those measures.
